Kirk Dressendorfer

Thumbs up to the Angels for signing Fernando Valenzuela, who could regain his effectiveness in the American League against batters who have never faced him. . . . The worst thing the Lakers could do is approach Game 2 tonight believing that their mission of a split at Portland already has been accomplished. . . . A split wouldn't mean all that much if the Trail Blazers came south and won at least one game at the Forum, where they took two of three in the regular season. . . . The No.

Led by Chris James, the Cleveland Indians used 21 hits, six walks and two errors as they ended their six-game losing streak and stopped Oakland's team-record 10-game home winning streak Saturday by routing the Athletics, 20-6. James hit three-run home runs in the first and second innings, had an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run single in the eighth to finish with nine runs batted in. He grounded out in his other at-bat in the sixth, and left the game after the eighth.

Scott Lewis listened to the hype that surrounds the Oakland Athletics, and he saw them live up to their reputation by winning the first three games of their series against the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. "I knew I was going to pitch against Oakland, and for the first couple days it was, 'Wow, I'm going to pitch against Jose (Canseco), Mark McGwire and all of those guys,' " Lewis said, widening his blue eyes to emphasize the awe he had for the defending American League champions.

Beating Texas at Austin isn't an easy assignment, especially when an All-American is pitching for Longhorns, but the Titans did, 5-2, to move into today's championship round of the Central Regional. Sam Colarusso (7-3) pitched a seven-hitter through seven innings, Chris Robinson blanked the Longhorns on two hits over the last two innings and Matt Hattabaugh and Paul Bunch homered to help the Titans (35-21) stay unbeaten in the tournament Sunday.

Kyle Abbott was more than a little skeptical when the Cal State Long Beach baseball team adopted "Shock the World" as its motto before the season began. Long Beach, after all, was coming off a 14-45 record in 1988. And Abbott, a pitcher who transferred from UC San Diego to Long Beach last fall, thought the 49ers would be fortunate to be at the .500 mark when the season ended. Last weekend, as Long Beach swept through the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.'s West I Regional at Tucson, Abbott still wasn't sure he believed the 49ers could be 50-13 and headed for their first appearance in the College World Series.

Coach Larry Cochell believes he has prepared Cal State Fullerton's team for high-pressure situations such as the one the Titans faced Sunday, when they played Texas before 6,621 fans on the Longhorns' field. But there wasn't much Cochell could do to prepare his players for Sunday's weather conditions. It was 93 degrees when the game started, 100 by the sixth inning and 103 when the game ended. The 50% humidity made it feel even hotter. "It was about 115 degrees on the field," Cochell said.

With seven of the nation's 10 winningest pitchers present, this year's College World Series has been billed as "A Call to Arms." And as the eight-team tournament got under way Friday in warm, muggy weather, pitchers dominated as expected. Top-seeded Florida State defeated North Carolina, 4-2, and Wichita State beat Arkansas, 3-1, before a crowd of 14,039 at Rosenblatt Stadium, where slugfests have been common. For the second year, the eight-team field is broken into East and West brackets that will be played with a double-elimination format.

Cal State Long Beach completed an otherwise memorable season Monday with a performance the 49ers would probably like to forget. Long Beach, participating in its first College World Series, absorbed its second consecutive defeat in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament, losing to Louisiana State, 8-5, before a crowd of 14,618 at Rosenblatt Stadium. Long Beach, which lost to Texas, 7-1, Saturday, concluded the season 50-15. Texas (53-17) remained unbeaten in the tournament Monday with a 12-2 victory over Miami (49-17)

On a night when Creighton pitcher Mike Heathcott's split-fingered fastball was bottoming out on most Cal State Fullerton hitters, the Titans turned to the bottom of their order to drop the Bluejays into the losers' bracket of the NCAA Central Regional. Domingo Mota, Fullerton's No. 9 batter, had four hits, knocked in three runs and scored twice to lead the Titans to a 6-3 victory over Creighton Saturday night before 2,618 at the University of Texas' Disch-Falk Field.

The Southern Oregon Athletics are establishing a reputation as having one of the premier pitching staffs in professional baseball. Four 1990 first-round draft picks are on the roster of the Oakland A's affiliate in the Class-A Northwest League. The quartet consists of recently signed high school phenom Todd Van Poppel, former UCLA standout Dave Zancanaro, Texas All-American Kirk Dressendorfer and Don Peters from St. Francis College in New York.